For some years it has been the policy of the BMJ Publishing Group to give free subscriptions to journals, including QHC, to people working in the developing world. An editorial in BMJ sets out the arguments for doing this very clearly.¹ We know that the gap between the rich and poor countries is widening but, while those of us in the developed world have information overload, in some developing countries libraries are empty. However, in practice there have been difficulties—for example, postal services may be very unreliable and getting the printed journal to its destination can be difficult and expensive and, to some places, impossible at times. The marginal costs of sending one year's subscription of QHC to Africa is around £25, but the marginal cost of giving access to the electronic edition of QHC is close to …